786 research outputs found
Staging of endometrial cancer with MRI: guidelines of the european society of urogenital imaging
The purpose of this study
was to define guidelines for endometrial
cancer staging with MRI. The
technique included critical review and
expert consensus of MRI protocols by the female imaging subcommittee of
the European Society of Urogenital
Radiology, from ten European institutions,
and published literature between
1999 and 2008. The results
indicated that high field MRI should
include at least two T2-weighted
sequences in sagittal, axial oblique or
coronal oblique orientation (short and
long axis of the uterine body) of the
pelvic content. High-resolution postcontrast
images acquired at 2 min ± 30 s
after intravenous contrast injection
are suggested to be optimal for the
diagnosis of myometrial invasion. If
cervical invasion is suspected, additional
slice orientation perpendicular
to the axis of the endocervical channel
is recommended. Due to the limited
sensitivity of MRI to detect lymph
node metastasis without lymph nodespecific
contrast agents, retroperitoneal
lymph node screening with
pre-contrast sequences up to the level
of the kidneys is optional. The likelihood
of lymph node invasion and
the need for staging lymphadenectomy
are also indicated by high-grade histology
at endometrial tissue sampling
and by deep myometrial or cervical
invasion detected by MRI. In conclusion,
expert consensus and literature
review lead to an optimized MRI
protocol to stage endometrial cancer
Curvature-coupling dependence of membrane protein diffusion coefficients
We consider the lateral diffusion of a protein interacting with the curvature
of the membrane. The interaction energy is minimized if the particle is at a
membrane position with a certain curvature that agrees with the spontaneous
curvature of the particle. We employ stochastic simulations that take into
account both the thermal fluctuations of the membrane and the diffusive
behavior of the particle. In this study we neglect the influence of the
particle on the membrane dynamics, thus the membrane dynamics agrees with that
of a freely fluctuating membrane. Overall, we find that this curvature-coupling
substantially enhances the diffusion coefficient. We compare the ratio of the
projected or measured diffusion coefficient and the free intramembrane
diffusion coefficient, which is a parameter of the simulations, with analytical
results that rely on several approximations. We find that the simulations
always lead to a somewhat smaller diffusion coefficient than our analytical
approach. A detailed study of the correlations of the forces acting on the
particle indicates that the diffusing inclusion tries to follow favorable
positions on the membrane, such that forces along the trajectory are on average
smaller than they would be for random particle positions.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Vulvar cancer staging: guidelines of the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR)
Objective The aim of the Female Pelvic Imaging Working Group of the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) was to develop imaging staging guidelines for vulvar cancer and to propose standardised MRI protocols and reporting. Methods The guidelines recommended from the ESUR in this article resulted from a questionnaire analysis regarding imaging staging of vulvar cancer that was answered by all members of the Female Pelvic Imaging Working Group. Only the answers with an agreement equal to or more than 80% were considered. Additionally, the literature was reviewed to complement and further support our conclusions. Results The critical review of the literature and consensus obtained among experts allows for recommendations regarding imaging staging guidelines, patient preparation, MRI protocol, and a structured MRI report. Conclusions Standardising image acquisition techniques and MRI interpretation reduces ambiguity and ultimately improves the contribution of radiology to the staging and management of patients with vulvar cancer. Moreover, structured reporting assists with the communication of clinically relevant information to the referring physician
"Safe" Coulomb Excitation of 30Mg
We report on the first radioactive beam experiment performed at the recently
commissioned REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN in conjunction with the highly
efficient gamma spectrometer MINIBALL. Using 30Mg ions accelerated to an energy
of 2.25 MeV/u together with a thin nat-Ni target, Coulomb excitation of the
first excited 2+ states of the projectile and target nuclei well below the
Coulomb barrier was observed. From the measured relative de-excitation gamma
ray yields the B(E2; 0+ -> 2+) value of 30Mg was determined to be 241(31)
e2fm4. Our result is lower than values obtained at projectile fragmentation
facilities using the intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation method, and
confirms the theoretical conjecture that the neutron-rich magnesium isotope
30Mg lies still outside the ``island of inversion''
Quantum-enhanced micromechanical displacement sensitivity
We report on a hitherto unexplored application of squeezed light: for
quantum-enhancement of mechanical transduction sensitivity in microcavity
optomechanics. Using a toroidal silica microcavity, we experimentally
demonstrate measurement of the transduced phase modulation signal with a
sensitivity \,dB below the shot noise level. This is achieved
for resonant probing in the highly under-coupled regime, by preparing the probe
in a weak coherent state with phase squeezed vacuum states at sideband
frequencies
11Be(beta-p), a quasi-free neutron decay?
We have observed beta-delayed proton emission from the neutron-rich nucleus
11Be by analysing a sample collected at the ISOLDE facility at CERN with
accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). With a branching ratio of (8.4 +- 0.6)
10^{-6} the strength of this decay mode, as measured by the B(GT)-value, is
unexpectedly high. The result is discussed within a simple single-particle
model and could be interpreted as a quasi-free decay of the 11Be halo neutron
into a single-proton state.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Indirect measurements of neutron-induced reaction cross sections at storage rings
Neutron-induced reaction cross sections of unstable nuclei are essential for understanding the synthesis of heavy elements in stars. However, their measurement is very difficult due to the radioactivity of the targets involved. We propose to circumvent this problem by using for the first time the surrogate reaction method in inverse kinematics at heavy-ion storage rings. In this contribution, we describe the developments we have done to perform surrogate-reaction studies at the storage rings of GSI/FAIR. In particular, we present the first results of the proof of principle experiment, which we conducted recently at the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR)
Evidence for local particle acceleration in the first recurrent galactic cosmic ray depression observed by Solar Orbiter. The ion event on 19 June 2020
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Genome-wide association study identifies 30 loci associated with bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder is a highly heritable psychiatric disorder. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) including 20,352 cases and 31,358 controls of European descent, with follow-up analysis of 822 variants with P < 1 × 10-4 in an additional 9,412 cases and 137,760 controls. Eight of the 19 variants that were genome-wide significant (P < 5 × 10-8) in the discovery GWAS were not genome-wide significant in the combined analysis, consistent with small effect sizes and limited power but also with genetic heterogeneity. In the combined analysis, 30 loci were genome-wide significant, including 20 newly identified loci. The significant loci contain genes encoding ion channels, neurotransmitter transporters and synaptic components. Pathway analysis revealed nine significantly enriched gene sets, including regulation of insulin secretion and endocannabinoid signaling. Bipolar I disorder is strongly genetically correlated with schizophrenia, driven by psychosis, whereas bipolar II disorder is more strongly correlated with major depressive disorder. These findings address key clinical questions and provide potential biological mechanisms for bipolar disorder
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